This invention relates in general to printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies having a PCB and electrical terminals attached thereto. In particular, this invention relates to an improved electrical terminal for such a PCB assembly that facilitates more efficient and effective placement of a plurality of the improved electrical terminals on the PCB.
Such PCB assemblies may be found in a variety of applications, such as power-distribution systems or junction boxes that are used to manage power distribution in automotive vehicles. Junction boxes typically include housings and a printed circuit board with electrical terminals, fuses, relays, circuit breakers, and other electrical devices mounted thereto. Electrical devices, such as connectors and wiring harnesses, may be connected to the terminals through the housings.
The electrical terminals may include terminal blades, forked female terminals, and/or portions having any other desired shape, and combinations thereof, that extend from one or both surfaces of the PCB.
The terminals may include insertion tabs that extend substantially transversely from the terminal. Each insertion tab provides an engagement surface against which an insertion tool may engage and urge the terminal through an aperture in the PCB, thereby mounting the terminal to the PCB. The insertion tabs are typically flat and in the same plane as a body of the terminal.
A plurality of terminals may be mounted in line on the PCB such that the terminals are substantially co-planar. When adjacent terminals are mounted to the PCB in this manner, the insertion tabs may also be co-planar. Adjacent terminals are typically mounted with a minimum distance therebetween to ensure that the adjacent electronically conductive terminals do not touch each other and/or to provide space for a wall of a housing that may be mounted about each terminal. A minimum center line distance between adjacent terminals is thus determined by the size of the insertion tabs that extend substantially transversely from, and in the same plane as, the body of the terminal.
End users of conventional junction boxes however, may desire a reduced package size for the junction box, thus requiring smaller PCB assemblies within the smaller junction box. It is therefore desirable to provide a terminal design that allows adjacent terminals to be mounted closer together, thus reducing the center line distance between adjacent terminals and allowing the size of the PCB assembly and the package size of the junction box to be reduced.